Norwegian

Dear Mr. Sheehan and Mr. Stuart,

I have been a big fan and great customer of NCL’s for over 25 years but I am so unhappy with the cruise I am currently on that I could not wait until I completed this sailing to express my disappointment, concern and frustration. My last cruise was only 7 weeks ago when my granddaughter and I sailed on the December 2010 Nickelodeon NCL cruise. Besides myself, several members of my family are Platinum Latitudes members and my 9 year old granddaughter has already cruised 11 times with NCL.

This school vacation I offered my granddaughter a choice between a Disney Cruise, which she has done been on 5 times already, an an NCL All Access Nickelodeon Cruise. She chose NCL because of the wonderful experience we had in December and excitedly looked forward to another great experience. My granddaughter was so excited that she convinced another family to take their vacation with us on this cruise. Unfortunately, this cruise has done anything but live up to our expectations or the promises and promotion of NCL. Right now our entire party is very sorry we decided to spend our vacation on this “All Access Nickelodeon Cruise”.

As a disabled senior, I am assigned to a designated section in the
Stardust Theatre and during the Family Welcome Social tee shirts were thrown into the audience. My granddaughter was lucky enough to catch a shirt and a grown man sitting behind her ripped the shirt from her hands so she began to cry. I witnessed this but was unable to confront the man or do anything about it. The look of astonishment on the faces of the staff tossing the shirts confirmed they also witnessed the incident. I would not expect the staff the approach that passenger, however, seeing what happened the correct thing to do would have been to throw the crying child another tee shirt.

I am having great difficulty finding activities for my granddaughter and her friend to participate in and enjoy. Keeping them entertained is extremely difficult as they do not like camp because the daily activities are geared strictly for a 6-7 year olds. This is very disappointing because we waited over an hour for the camp sign in at the beginning of our cruise. It is also not right that NCL is prohibiting children from attending some of the specialty Nickelodeon events when these events are precisely the reason we chose this cruise. Our party was denied access to the meet and greet with Ciara from Big Time Rush because we were not teenagers. My granddaughter and her friend are huge fans so to say we had some very upset children is an understatement. At the Nick Pool parties the children end up being excluded from half the event because they allow adults to sit in lounge chairs right in front of the stage and the event last such a short time that it is over by the time you find a place to sit. Despite the fact that The Freestyle Daily encourages children to approach the characters and film crew, when trying to see Sponge Bob they are told in a nasty manner by the crew to get away.

One evening our party was enjoying dinner in the outside area of the Garden Café when the crew started to remove all of the chairs. We asked the officer if we had to leave or could stay and finish our dinner. He not only advised that we could stay but suggested that we put several tables together to accommodate our entire party. A few minutes later, while we were still eating, the same officer approached us and told us that we had to leave because they were waiting to begin drilling. Disappointed, we all moved our food inside and finished our meal. I do not understand why we were made to move. We stayed for over an hour longer and at no time was any drilling done.

The most concerning thing to me is the danger I experie getting on and off the tender. As a handicapped senior boarding the tender is very difficult. And on my return to the ship from Stirrup Cay, I was advised by NCL staff that I had to sit upstairs. Trying to navigate the stairs I ended up falling. I was shocked when 4 of your crew members did nothing and watched as I lay on the stairs. I was also embarrassed that I had to rely on the kindness of another passenger to get back on my feet. On one occasion I had such great difficulty that an Officer, seeing my distress, had to assist me.

I expressed my concerns to the purser and requested that, as a NCL Platinum passenger, that they fax this letter to your attention on my behalf. I was rudely and promptly told no and that if I wanted this send any communication to your office I would have to leave the ship and find a location that has a fax machine or wait until the last day of the cruise and fill out a comment form.

Although this cruise has been a nightmare from the start, and continues to be, I would like you to know that NCL does employ some very great people. Your Cruise Consultant, Luciana Fonseca has been friendly and courteous. She is a great asset to your company and should be recognized as such. I have been on multiple cruises with her and she always makes it a point to go out of her way to welcome the passengers. She makes everyone feel special and is ready and willing to assist in any way she possibly can.

I would appreciate your assistance in salvaging the remained of my party’s vacation and making it a memorable one for the right reasons. I hope to hear from you before the end of our sailing this week.

Thank you,
Elizabeth Lizardi